Thompson adds gold to remarkable collection

Press, 30 July 1986, Page 47

Thompson adds gold to remarkable collection

From

ROD DEW,

in Edinburgh

The irrepressible Olympic decathlon champion and world record-holder, Daley Thompson, of England, added another gold medal to his already remarkable collection after another splendid series of performances on the final day of the Commonwealth Games decathlon in the Meadowbank Stadium yesterday.

When the time came for the final event, the 1500 m, he was so far ahead of his rivals that he was able to almost amble around the track and still break the Games record by more than 200 points with his final tally of 8663 points. At one time, he threatened his own world record, and in the end he was less than 200 points short of this. But his real target is the 9000-point barrier, which he expects to break this northern season.

The win was the third in succession in the Games decathlon for the hugely talented and often controversial Thompson. Even this time he managed to become involved in a £2 million sponsorship row when he blanked out the name of the Games sponsor, Guinness, on his singlet during the first day of the decathlon. Threats by the sponsor to withdraw its £2 million, and threats to disqualify Thompson for his action, were averted yesterday when the superman of world track and field appeared with the Guinness name back on his singlet. Thompson, one of the few real showmen in international track and field, started out on his victory lap and then took the entire decathlon field with him. The reception

from the crowd was deafening. Afterwards, Thompson maintained a tradition he began at the Edmonton Games eight years ago and refused to appear at the scheduled press conference. It surprised noone, but in a press release issued through the Games organisers later, he said he found it difficult to get worked up for competitions after all these years. “I find the best thing to do is just to go out and enjoy it,” he said. Thompson said he had “a few good events and a few average events,” in the Games contest, but felt that he was in condition to break the world record. “All I need is nice weather and good opposition,” he said. His next and best chance will be in the European championship in Stuttgart.

The silver medal went to Dave Steen, of Canada, who must be a little frustrated at finding himself once again in this position. He was also runnerup to Thompson at Brisbane four years ago. This time, however, he was under constant pressure from the rapidly improving New Zealand champion, Simon Poelman, and it was only in the last two disciplines, the javelin and the 1500 m, that he pulled ahead.

Steen finished with 8173 points, and Poelman com-

pleted the contest with 8015 for the bronze — the first track and field medal of the Games for New Zealand. Poelman’s score was down on his New Zealand record of 8158 points, but in such illustrious company this was no concern. “I don’t think I performed up to my true potential, but I won the bronze,” said a delighted Poelman afterwards. “I came here to win a medal, and maybe beat Dave Steen. At one stage I was close to the silver medal, and I am happy with the result.” He classified the medal as his “greatest sporting achievement” so far. He has plans, however, for rapid improvement — and for beating Steen. “Next time I come up against Dave Steen will be in the world championships in a year. I will beat him,” vowed the 23-year-old New Zealander. Poelman hopes to lift his personal best points tally to 8400 or 8500 later this year, which would put him close to the highest world rankings. Poelman believes his chances of silver disappeared this time with poor performances (for him) in the long jump and the 400 m on the first day. "Seven metres in the long jump should be a pop-up for me. The 400 m was an event he had to do a lot of work

on. “With my speed I should be able to cruise through the 400 m in 485.” Although in third place behind Thompson and Steen at the end of the first day, Poelman was still in with a chance of the silver after the first two events, the 110 m hurdles and the discus, yesterday. He beat Steen in both these. His hurdles time of 14.51 s was his best in a decathlon, and his discus of 44.40 m was a personal best. The pole vault represented Poelman’s last chance to apply pressure to . Steen. He cleared 4.80 m at his first attempt and in a show of gamesmanship elected to miss the next height and go to sm. This proved his undoing. He failed at all three attempts. Steen settled for 4.90 m, and succeeded. Later, Poelman refused to accept that he had made a mistake in missing a height. “I knew at that stage of the competition that I had to get 5m if I was going to beat Steen. Heights of 4.80 m or 4.90 m wouldn’t have made any difference to the medals. If I had cleared sm, it would have put pressure on Steen and inspired me. to greater effort in the javelin and the 1500 m. As it was, I simply ran fast enough in the 1500 m to ensure a score of more than 8000 points.”

There was drama, too, for Thompson in the pole vault. He missed his first two attempts at 4.80 m. A third failure would have put him out of the contest, but he retained his composure and made a safe clearance In the final round. He went on to clear 5.10 m for another win. Thompson won every event on the first day, and yesterday won the hurdles (14.225) and the pole vault. Steen won the javelin with 60.82 m, which put him in a certain silver medal position and he followed this up with the second-fastest time of 4min 22.65 s behind Simon Shirley (Australia) in the 1500 m. One of the leading contenders for the decathlon medals, Eugene Gilkes, of England, withdrew from the competition yesterday after learning that his appeal over his disqualification in the 400 m had been lost. Gilkes held second place in the decathlon during the early stages, but was disqualified for running on the line in the 400 m. Yesterday, he competed in the hurdles and discus while waiting for the final ruling. When it went against him, he pulled out. “I didn’t know I was on the line,” he said yesterday. “Obviously, I am very disappointed, but there will be other times.”